GWHS IB Diploma Program

2009-2010 — News & Events

Updated on June 26, 2010

National Champions in Public Forum Debate

George IB students, Gabe Rusk and Brendan Patrick, who have been competing at the prestigious Tournament of Champions debate tournament in Kentucky, won the Public Forum Debate, defeating sixty-eight of the top debate teams in the nation. Congratulations to Gabe, Brendan, and their coach Maryrose Kohan.

IB Book Buy-back and Book Sale — May 20-21

Thanks to Debi Roads, the book order program is alive and well for the coming year. Debi scoured the Internet for discount vendors and compiled a book list for our students.

Used Book buy back will be May 20th and the Used Book Sale will be May 21st in the Community Room 9-3 PM both days.

2010-2011 IB Book List (PDF)

Current students will have the opportunity to sell books from completed courses. Continuing students will then be able to purchase used books at prices much lower than new. Participation in the used book sale and/or the IB book orders is convenient and generally cost-effective, but completely optional. Students may prefer to purchase some or all of their books on their own. Online book sales will open on June 1.

Please note, however, that students will have to acquire books on the order form one way or another. Order your books either through Ms. Roads by the stated deadline or through your own arrangements – but be sure to take care of this chore before school begins in August.

Students who are eligible for free or reduced lunch can request financial assistance with book orders. They will be asked to provide proof of eligibility and must meet all deadlines.

Thank You Proctors!

All of the proctor assignments have been filled for 2010's testing sessions in May. Forty-one parents and one teacher volunteered this year—assuring that George IB's testing will go off without a hitch.

Speech & Debate Goes to Nationals in Force

GW is proud to announce that thirteen of our students have qualified to attend nationals for speech and debate (more than any other school in the state!).  The following students will represent GW:

• Public Forum - Gabe Neslin and Lawson Williams, and Gabe Rusk and Brendan Patrick
• CX/Policy Debate - Madeline Czufin and Chase Kernan, and Sam Clark and Miles Owens
• Original Oratory - Angie Neslin
• International Extemporaneous Speaking -
  Dan Morgan-Russell
• Lincoln-Douglas Debate - Matt Zavislan
• Congress - Ryan Boyd and Emma Thompson

Nationals will be held in Kansas City in June.  Good luck to our team and congratulations to our coach Mary Rose Kohan.

History Students Rule District Competition

George students shined at the DPS National History Day competition on April 10th, sweeping three categories entirely. Twenty-nine George IB students will have the opportunity to compete at the state finals (Colorado History Day) at the University of Colorado in Boulder on May 1. Those students are: Emilie Bickel, Tai Chen, Jacqueline Enriquez, Abigail Godec, Maddie Hughes, Enyinna Isiguzo, Sara Kieser, Francesca Lipinsky-DeGette, Nyssa Lowenstein, Leslie Lui, Kayla McClelland, Ethan Melnick, Grace Michaels, Natalie Millar, Angie Neslin, Allison Ortega, Breann Pugnetti, Kate Rowe, Marjie Ruby, Mackenzie Schledorn-Rudden, Patrick Tapp, Chloe Thomas, Valencia Watson, Jenna Webster, Eleah Wilkerson, Sarah Wolberg, Jonah Wolf, Alexandra Wollins, Jackson Zeiler. [ DISTRICT NHD RESULTS ]

George IB Chemists Qualify for National Exam

George IB students, Devon Stork and Chase Kernan, have been invited to sit for the U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad national exam on April 24. Each year 10,000 students take the local exam; 900 students go on to take the national exam (a three-part, 4.5 hour exam administered by the American Chemical Society).

Devon and Chase are among nine students to qualify for this honor in the greater metro area and are the only students representing DPS. [ About the Chemistry Olympiad ]

IB Juniors Take Third Place at State Science Fair

Alexander Port and Devon Stork, George IB Juniors, were awarded third place in the Senior Division Best Team Project competition in the 2010 Colorado Science and Engineering Fair on April 10, 2010. Their project was titled “The Effect of Intramolecular Bonding on the Structure of Odor Binding Protein-4.”

State Speech & Debate Champions

Sam Clark and Miles Owens won the State Title in Cross-Examination/Policy Debate at the State Speech and Debate Tournament! Congratulation also goes to Madelaine Czufin, Chase Kernan, Sarah Tran, and Tanner Sandoval who tied for third place in Cross Examination/Policy Debate; Jamie Tran and Olivia Czufin who placed 4th in Policy Debate; Ryan Boyd and Josh Carson who placed third in Public Forum Debate; Angie Neslin who placed 4th in Original Oratory; Richard Medina who placed 5th in Poetry; and Dan Morgan-Russell who placed 7th in International Extemporaneous Speaking.  

Keep George IB Strong
with a Tax-deductible Donation

Read Tom Zeiler's explanation of the George IB Foundation's service to our students and learn why its important to pay your dues and a little (or a lot) more on the IB Fund-raising page.

Ben Reilly Wins Poetry Out Loud State Championship

Ben Reilly, sophomore in the International Baccalaureate Program at George Washington High School, won the Poetry Out Loud State Championship March 9 in Lakewood, CO.  He receives an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. to represent Colorado in the National Finals April 26.  Ben is the first DPS state winner since the Poetry Out Loud competition began five years ago. Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, the competition now attracts students from every state in the union. Last year 300,000 students representing 1500 high schools took part.

As Colorado's winner, Ben receives $200 in prize money, and George Washington High receives $500 to use toward poetry books for the school.  The top national Poetry Out Loud winner receives $20,000, and the top twelve winners receive a total of $30,000.  Competitors select from over 500 poems at the Poetry Out Loud website and recite their selections from memory.  Winners progress through levels of competition from the classroom, to school, state, and national finals.  George Washington's Poetry Out Loud coordinator is teacher Anna Wadsworth.

Intramolecular Bonding Project Heads to the State Science Fair in April

IB Juniors Alex Port and Devon Stork earned first place in the Seniors Team category at the Denver Metro Regional Science and Engineering Fair on February 24th at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Their project was entitled "The Effect of Intramolecular Bonding on the Structure of Odor Binding Protein-4" (OBP4). The pair has been invited to compete at the state science fair at CSU on April 8-10.

The following summary was provided by Alex:

To put the project into context, I originally obtained the unrefined model of the protein at the beginning of last summer while working for Dr. David Jones at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. The lab's purpose was (and is) to study these OBP's which are found in mosquitoes, specifically those carrying malaria. I spent several weeks in Dr. Jones' Laboratory learning how to use software programs (Coot and PyMOL). I then used these programs to refine the protein structure to it's current state of accuracy.

Meanwhile, Devon took a summer biochemistry course at Brown University, which got him interested in protein structure. So we decided to collaborate for this science project. Starting with my model of OBP4, we analyzed protein structure but searching for significant intramolecular bonds (hydrogen bonds and disulfide bridges). The current version of our project has around 40 hydrogen bonds and 3 disulfide bridges.

Model UN Braves the Snowpocalypse

Despite the “snowpocalypse” in Washington, D.C., GW’s Model UN team made it to this year’s North American Invitational Model United Nations (NAIMUN), joining 2000 other students who braved the weather. The students participated in six councils, ranging from a Security Council in which World War III broke out, a simulation of the Constitutional Convention, in which they almost adopted the Koala bear as our national mascot, and in a special summit on the DPRK, China and Russia instigated a civil war in North Korea, cumulating in a nuclear blast.

Participating were Rachel Yahn and Brian Sullivan representing the World Trade Organization as the Chinese Tai Pei, Patrick Lofgren in the Ugyhur Independence Movement, Levi Peterson in the Security Council representing Mexico, Erik Oerke representing Gordon Brown in the EU, Nate Skeen representing Japan in a special summit on North Korea, and Erik Morrison who won 3rd place representing Alexander Hamilton in the Constitution Convention. Olivia Edwards was unable to attend due to illness.

“The students were simply wonderful on the trip. What a superb bunch of young people. I am very proud of them.” Leslie Whitty

Speech & Debate at Berkeley

Speech and Debate team spent Valentine’s Day weekend in Berkeley, California at a large tournament attended by hundreds of teams from across the country. There were many successes; Olivia Czufin and Davis Berlind placed in the top 8 of JV Policy debate and Sarah Pierce and Lucy Shen took 2nd in JV Policy debate out of a field of 150 teams. Gabe Rusk, Brendan Patrick, Gabe Neslin, Lawson Williams, Ryan Boyd and Josh Carson were all very successful in Public Forum debate; over 350 teams were entered in this highly competitive event.

Gabe Rusk and Brendan Patrick placed in the top 16. Gabe Neslin, Lawson Williams, Ryan Boyd and Josh Carson all advanced to the quarter final round (top 8). Michael Homiak enjoyed success in JV Lincoln-Douglas debate, breaking in the top 16 and receiving the top speaker award. Matthew Zavislan was in the top 32 JV Lincoln- Douglas debaters. Other successes included Angie Neslin and Ryan Boyd who made it to the top 56 in their events—original oratory and extemporaneous speaking. George was represented well and will hopefully continue to see this success as they move into state and national qualifying tournaments. 

George IB Student Recognized by 9News Kids Who Care

Inspired by the Mesgana Dance Group from Ethiopia in 2007, Ann Moorman signed up to sponsor Amezen, a student through the Children of Ethiopian Educational Fund. After a successful bake sale that covered a year of schooling for Amezen, Ann’s creative juices went to work. She helped create the “B Sharp” quartet; a group of friends who perform holiday concerts for seniors in retirement homes. She wanted to give back to people in her community while still raising money for Amezen. After each performance Ann told the group about Amezen and the students in Ethiopia. Friends and family of the seniors contributed enough money for another year of expenses for Amezen. In addition to fundraising, Ann is very active with 4-H in Arapahoe County. [ 9News Story ]

Art Honors for George IB Seniors

Please congratulate our seniors who won various honors in the Plymouth Congregational Church Art Exhibit for high school students. Patricia Park won an Honorable Mention for a cut-paper work entitled Rocky Mountains; Chelsea Proctor won an Honorable Mention for a digital photograph entitled A Lunch in the Park; and Robin Zeller won a Certificate of Merit for a photograph entitled The Pursuit of Happiness. Works by other GW students were accepted for the juried show, as well.

You are invited to a reception honoring the artists on Sunday, February 7 at noon at the church, located at 3501 South Colorado Boulevard in Denver.

ACT/SAT Test Prep Seminar
by IB College Counselor Rusty Haynes

Rusty Haynes, George IB's college counselor, provided a two-hour standardized test preparation seminar on Saturday, January 30, for juniors and underclassmen. Mr. Haynes' slides and an audio recording of the presentation can be downloaded from this site's college prep page.

GW EXCELS AT OVERLAND SPEECH AND DEBATE TOURNAMENT

GWIB Speech and Debate students did extraordinarily well in their events at the Blazing Sun Tournament on January 23! In Public Forum Debate, 10 of the 71 competing teams broke to finals and three of those came from GW. George Washington HS had a long list of finalists, and earned the most points at the tournament and First Place in the Sweepstakes Award – ahead of both Cherry Creek and East High Schools.

In Cross-Examination Debate, Madelaine Czufin was the number one speaker at the tournament and took 1st place overall with her partner, Chase Kernan. In Original Oratory, 3 of the 6 finalists came from GW: Ben Reilly placed 2nd, Angie Neslin placed 3rd, and Heather Yin placed 5th. Lawson Williams placed 1st in National Extemporaneous. We also had the following finalists in Duo Interpretation, Foreign Extemporaneous, and Impromptu: Ryan Boyd, Josh Carson, Aerik Francis, Dylan Hertel, Michael Homiak, Miles Moore, Dan Morgan Russell, Madi Pluss, Emma Thompson, Jamie Tran, Clara Troyer, and Monica Smith-Acuna.

Good luck to the 35 team members will travel to Berkeley in February for a national qualifying meet. 

GWIB’S HL MATH MAKES THE GRADE

Steve Lacks and his Higher Level Math students were spotlighted by the Sunday Denver Post on January 22, in the aptly titled article “Finding the Formula for Student Success” by local writer Ben Cape. The portrait of Mr. Lacks was flattering indeed – and deservedly so. (See the “People You Should Know” article in the February 2010 Broadcaster.)

But perhaps even more flattering was the depiction of Mr. Lacks’ students, who were described as vigorous and engaged scholars, full of potential and devotion, who embrace being challenged, who are eager to learn, and who understand that being willing to risk failure is key to achieving real success. Evidently that formula is working well enough to impress the admissions officers at MIT. Mr. Cope spotted a letter from them, thanking Mr. Lacks for all his work with one of our alums, who is now at that bastion of math wizardry.

Read the Denver Post article.

ACT Ace Number Two
	GWIB is proud to announce that Chase Kernan has joined classmate Hannah McGehee in achieving a score of 36 on the ACT. Fewer than 1 in 1,000 ACT takers hit that mark, but this year’s class of 96 boasts two perfect scorers. Quite an accomplishment – congratulations!

GW SPEECH AND DEBATE TEAM RULES

George Washington High School co-hosted the Cherry Tree Chop Debate Tournament on January 9, with Cherry Creek High School. The tournament was no sprint, lasting from 7:30 AM to 6:00 PM and involving many parent and student volunteers. Speech and debate coach Maryrose Kohan provided tireless support throughout. The tournament was a great success, with many Patriot teams qualifying for finals.

Here are the results highlights: 1ST place Varsity Policy Debate – Chase Kernan and Jamie Tran; 2nd place Novice Policy Debate –Katie Morris and Katie Probst; 2nd place Foreign Extemporaneous Speech – Dan Morgan-Russell; 2nd and 5th place US Extemporaneous Speech – Lawson Williams and Gabe Neslin, respectively; 4th place Congress – Langston Williams; 4th place Dramatic Interpretation – Julia Sigman; 6th place Original Oratory – Heather Yin. The GW debate team continues to excel this season. This CHSAA tournament was a great way to showcase GW and our speech and debate team. It highlighted hundreds of students from around Denver, competing in the full range of competitive speech events.

Sophomore Emma Thompson said, "I think it is great that GW can show other schools we can run a tournament well, and that is a good representation for our school."

GW Swimmers Place Second Overall at the DPS Relay Meet on December 9

George's Lady Patriots won three of seven events at the DPS Relay Meet on December 9 at Manual High School and placed second in the remaining events. The finish of the 200 Butterfly Relay was featured on 9News and included Erica Czajka (Jr), Julia Clark (Sr), Jillian Elisberg (So), and Paige Witter (Fr).

GW Speech and Debate Brings Home Awards
from the Silver and Black Invitational in Utah

GW Speech and Debate had a fantastic showing in Salt Lake City over the December 5-6 weekend. Sixteen students traveled to a national level tournament attended by over 64 teams. The team earned the following recognition in Public Forum Debate: First Place to Gabe Rusk and Brendan Patrick; Second Place to Madi Pluss and Ethan Melnick; Top 8 to Lawson Williams and Gabe Neslin; and Top 16 to Chiamaka Isiguzo and Aerik Francis. And the team had two Top 16 entries in the Policy Debate: Sam Clark and Miles Owens; and Madelaine Czufin and Chase Kernan.

Model UN Competes Well at the Boulder Meet

Congratulations to the Model UN Team for their wonderful performance on Saturday, December 5 at the Boulder meet. Christian Solano, representing Mexico, earned Honorable Mention and Outstanding Delegation was awarded to Jennifer Gallegos and Lydia Loopesko (United States); and to Cal McIntyre and Sean Chilelli (Bangladesh). Well done Model UN!

The Surveyor Earns Top Honors

The staff of The Surveyor just attended the Journalism Education Association's National Convention with over 6000 other high school journalists in Washington, DC. At the convention they were honored with the National Pacemaker Award - the highest award for student journalism in this country - for the third year in row. Co Editors-in-chief, Jane Culkin and Madelaine Czufin accepted the award. Congratulations to them and to the entire staff of The Surveyor!

George Drama's The Tempest

Congratulations to the cast and crew of The Tempest for a successful six performance run in November. Over eighty GW students were involved in the production – actors, crews and heads, designers, director, and even a dramaturg.

The George Drama program is unusual compared to most high school drama departments. All aspects of the George shows are student produced. Shelby O’Clair, GW’s drama teacher, mentors the students and provides instruction, but the students own their shows.

Photos from The Tempest can be viewed at http://upstart.smugmug.com. Next on deck is the musical
The Wiz which opens on March 3, 2010.

George IB Students on the COYAC

Congratulations to IB junior Thomas Tarler and IB sophomore Angie Neslin for being selected to represent Colorado youth on the Colorado Youth Advisory Council (COYAC). COYAC was founded to give youth a voice in the Colorado state legislature, and is comprised of high school students from across the state. They held their first meeting in October and will be meeting periodically throughout the school year to discuss issues important to youth and advise the legislature. They will both serve a two-year term.

IB Women Make All-City Softball

Four IB students were chosen to the Denver Prep League All-City softball team. Pitcher Kelce Gerlits made first team, outfielder Lauren Josephs was selected to second team, and catcher Michelle Peck and third baseman Laura Gabriel were honorable mention. Congratulations ladies!

George Speech & Debate Win Top Awards
at the East High School Turkey Meet

Congratulations to the Speech and Debate team for their excellent performance at the East High School Turkey Meet on November 13 and 14. Over 700 students from Colorado and surrounding states competed in the tournament. Gabe Neslin and Lawson Williams took first and Emma Thompson and Miles Moore took third in Public Forum debate; Chase Kernan and Jamie Tran took second in Varsity CX debate; Katie Probst and Davis Berlind took second in JV CX debate; Alex Wollins and Nyssa Lowenstein took second in Improv Pairs; Dan Morgan-Russell took first in International Extemp and fifth in National Extemp; Ryan Boyd took second in National Extemp and fifth in International Extemp; and Angie Neslin took ninth in Original Oratory. Great job team! Debaters will be traveling to Alta, Utah in early December.

Photo by Alexandra Wollins

George IB CAS Fair

George IB hosted a CAS Fair at GWHS on October 16 that showcased organizations that can provide creative, athletic and service opportunities for George IB students--helping to satisfy the CAS requirement of the IB Diploma. Photos by Alexandra Wollins (GWIB 2011).

[ Photos ]

IB Runner Places 7th in the
DPS All City High School Meet

George IB's Isabel Hoyt placed seventh overall in the DPS All City Varsity women's cross country meet and competed at the State regional meet on October 22. In addition to running cross country, Isabel is one of the student representatives and the secretary for the GWHS CSC.

Laura Bailey, Kelsey Meyer, Heather Yin, and Andrew Billon

George's Invisible Children Club
Hosts Documentary Screenings

Invisible Children at George was founded by Kelsey Meyer and Heather Yin in 2008. In response to a documentary seen in their philosophy class regarding child soldiers, they were able to start a club and have since been able to get a hold of the Invisible Children Roadies who screened several documentaries for the entire school. Since then, the Invisible Children club has boomed with memberships and has started fundraising efforts and is participating in the Schools for Schools program, a program built to donate money to re-build schools in Uganda.

[ Learn more about the Invisible Children program.]

Two GWIB Students Serving on
DPS Student Board of Education

GW’s representatives on the Student Board of Education for 2009-2010 are IB senior Clara Troyer and IB junior Tanner Sandoval. They will represent GW to the Board of Education on key student issues and work to create a better culture at GW.  Please thank these outstanding student leaders for their hard work on behalf of GW and all DPS students.

Class of 2009 College Choices

Find out where 2009's seniors are attending college — read the GWIB Class of 2009 College Choice list.

Speech and Debate Team
Receives National Recognition

George Washington High School has been recognized as one of the nation’s top 100 schools in speech and debate activities by the National Forensic League (NFL), ranking 86 out of over 3,000 schools nationwide based on student participation and excellence in speech and debate activities.

Maryrose Kohan, the speech and debate teacher at GWHS and the team’s coach for the fourth year, credits her students’ hard work and enthusiasm for this honor. “When I first came here, I had ten students on the team. Now I have well over one hundred! The students get their friends involved in an activity they love!” Kohan was pleased to take six students to the national competition in Alabama this summer, and hopes to travel with her entire team to Wyoming in December.

Congratulations, Model UN

The Model UN Team made an excellent showing at the Regis meet on October 2. The following students won in the Beginning Security Council:

• Best Delegation: Rachel Yahn & Gabe Rusk representing Uganda.
• Outstanding Delegation: Sean Chilelli & Cal McIntyre representing China; Jamie Tran & Aerik Francis representing Libya.
• Honorable Mention: Tia Chen & Oliver Bawmann representing Japan; Lark Maag & Camille Shortridge representing Burkina Faso; Marjie Ruby & Devon Stork representing Vietnam.

Thomas Tarler won Outstanding Delegation in OPEC representing Iran.

Acing the ACT—A Perfect 36
	George IB senior Hannah McGehee was recognized by the Colorado Department of Education on October 8th at a special luncheon for earning a perfect score on the ACT college entrance exam. Hannah is one of eight students in Colorado (and the only DPS student) who achieved a 36 on her ACT. Well done Hannah. DPS Announcement

Seven National Merit Commended Scholars @ George

George IB seniors Sara Black, Paige Dahlman, Julia Clark, Kelsey Meyer, Evan Webber, Erik Morrison, and Robert Huggins have been recognized as National Merit Commended Scholars for their scores on the Fall 2008 PSAT exams (they are among the top 34,000 students of the 1.5 million students who took the exam).

Congratulations to George's National Merit Semi-finalists

George IB seniors Luke Leichty, Brennan Harris, Hannah McGehee, and Chase Kernan qualified as National Merit Scholar Semi-finalists with PSAT selection indexes of 213 or higher (above the 99th percentile). GW had more semi-finalists than any other DPS school. These students are in the top 16,000 students of the 1.5 million who took the PSAT in 2008.

2010 Yearbook Deadlines and Fund-raising

Senior photos are due to the yearbook no later than Friday, October 9 (see form below). Pre-orders for the 2010 yearbook will be accepted until November 20 (when the cost will increase). The yearbook is also offering senior dedications and business ads to raise money for the program.

Senior Photo Form | Yearbook Pre-order

Senior Dedication | Yearbook Advertisements

Whole Foods Gives to George

Whole Foods Market @ Tamarac is supporting George Washington High School as the recipient of its bag refund donation program. As part of the program, if you bring your own bag when you shop, you may receive 10 cents off your total bill. OR, tell the cashier you want to donate those 10 cents to George Washington High School! Whole Foods' donation to George will support our efforts to recycle and preserve the environment, as well as go to the school renovations project. Support George by supporting Whole Foods Market!

Past News & Events: 2008-2009 | 2007-2008